the princess and the pilot
by odstpilot
Summary: Trigger gets creative in asking Cossette for a date.
1. Chapter 1

Ch 1

_Space elevator, Erusea_

Trigger gazed at the massive tower, remembering when he flew up inside the elevator itself. After the war, he was assigned to help occupy the country of Erusea. He and Queen Cossette got along fine, though he wanted to ask her out for a date. Problem was, he couldn't find the time to do so.

"This is bullshit. I can take on the arsenal bird and its drones, take on mister x, fly thru the space elevator, but I can't ask the queen for a date?" Trigger exclaimed aloud.

"Trigger, you need to be spontaneous. Just go out there and surprise her. What's the worst that can happen?" Avril asks.

"Problem is, I'm busy with CAP duties. And if I break off to talk to her, Long Caster will chew me out." Trigger said.

"I know how to help you win her." Avril said.

"How?" the ace asked.

"Meet me tonight in my room." Avril said.

That night, Trigger entered the 'scrap queen's' room and was tossed a notebook. Opening the book, he saw several poems and drawings. He noticed that many of the drawings were about the three strikes that adorned his fighter.

"Who's is this?" Trigger asked.

"Cossette's. She obviously has it in for you. I can't tell you how many times I'd catch her looking out her window, just to see you. She enjoys your acrobatics display. Turn to page 7." Avril said.

Trigger turned to the page and saw a large heart with three arrows pierced thru it. Underneath it, was written _Three Strikes and the princess._ Trigger didn't know whether to be flattered or not.

"Speak of the devil. You said you knew of a way to help me…" Trigger said, when an idea came to his head.

"I'll be flying a CAP tomorrow around the tower. I need to know the location of her office. And I need you to make sure she is looking out that window at 1030 hours." Trigger said.

"She's always looking out her window at that time. Here's the coordinates of her office. What do you have in mind?" Avril asked.

"Get everyone in the hanger. I'll need four red smoke canisters. I'll also need three air-to-air missiles armed for manual detonation that trail red smoke." Trigger said, as he ran to the hangers.

"How can you plot and run at the same time?" Avril asked.

In the hanger, Trigger and the rest of the squadron were busy getting his trademark Su-37 ready for the next mission. Trigger himself dubbed the mission 'operation grab the queen's heart'.

"You know, considering how capable we are in the cockpit, we pilots are terrible when it comes to making up names for missions." Count said.

In the tower, Rosa was looking out the window and saw the city that lay opposite of her. Every morning she heard the roar of jet fighters coming from the airport. To her, it was a reprieve from her job as the leader of Erusea.

"I hope you'll perform some of your stunts tomorrow." She muttered to herself, hoping that Trigger would hear her.

As the sun set, Trigger looked at the tower. The sight was remarkable. For a brief moment, he wished the princess was standing next to him. He clearly remembered Long Caster's advice.

"Take her to one of those Italian restaurants. They have good food. She'll love it." He said.

Trigger could only laugh. He was sure Long Caster knew first-hand about their food. They were all a bunch of hardened killers, and they were giving him advice to win the queen's heart.

"Sleep well, ma'am. Hope to see you tomorrow." He said.

Trigger woke up early. He headed to the hanger and checked his fighter with the deckhands.

"Well dumbass, here's hoping your mission is a success." Avril said, lifting a flask in salute and drank from it.

"I hope so." Trigger said, putting his helmet on. His nerves calmed down as he felt the engines wind up. He rolled down the tarmac and headed towards the tower.

Rosa saw Trigger fly next to the tower, the three strikes being shown. She watched as he performed several acrobatic stunts. She was always amazed at how he could force his plane into such stunts that seemed to defy the laws of physics.

With her eyes on Trigger, she watched as he activated smoke canisters and flew in the shape of a large heart. With the smoke turned off, he then fired three missiles into the 'heart'. The warheads detonated after passing thru the other side, showing three arrows piercing the heart.

She could only smile at the gesture. But she wondered how he knew. That was very similar to the drawing she put in her notebook.

"How did he know…" Rosa started, when she realized something. Avril stole the notebook right from under her nose.

"That little bitch." Rosa muttered. But she couldn't deny that Trigger made one hell of show for her. The phone rang, and she answered.

"Queen D'Elise." She said.

"It's Trigger. You want to go on a date? I've heard there's some good Italian restaurants in the city across from you." He said.

"Sure thing, Trigger. But I'm in the mood of a French restaurant. I'll send you the coordinates. How about tonight? 9PM." She replied.

"2100 hours. Got it. I might be arriving in my jet. I'll be flying another sortie later in the afternoon. I'll be sure to pack some dress clothes." Trigger said.

"I'll be the woman in the red dress." Rosa said.

"Look forward to it. Out." Trigger said, shutting the comms off.

Rosa put the phone away and watched as Trigger pulled the nose upward and shot up like a rocket.

"YEAH!" He shouted in excitement.

"Control yourself, Trigger. You don't want to wreck before your date." Long Caster advised.


	2. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Night came, and as Rosa went to the restaurant, she stopped and had to blink several times.

"So, someone parked a tank where a car should be. Makes sense." She said.

As she entered inside, she looked up and saw the streaks of contrails produced by the jets on patrol.

"Don't leave me hanging, Trigger." She muttered.

Said pilot was aiming the nose of his plane at the street that lead to the restaurant. With a grin on his face, he raced towards the street and started the landing procedures. He wondered how the authorities would respond to a jet landing on the streets. In Osea and Yuktobania, for every curved piece of road there was a straight piece of road that was 1-5 miles long for fighter jets to use incase of a full-scale war.

"Must be the same here." He muttered as he touched down on the street. Pulling the throttle back kept his eyes open for the restaurant, though looking for a restaurant while traveling at 100mph was harder than he initially thought.

"Last time I try this." He said, as he turned into the parking lot. To his surprise, he found a large piece of parking space that had an airplane painted on it.

"Command doesn't pay me enough for this weird shit." Trigger said, as he taxied his plane onto the designated spot. Turning the engines off, he grabbed his change of clothes and entered the restroom.

A man was washing his hands, when he saw Trigger came in. Trigger was decked out in his flight suit, still wearing the helmet. The masked man entered the largest stall without saying a word. A few minutes passed and Trigger walked out wearing much different clothes. He quickly headed outside to put the flight suit in the cockpit, and headed back inside.

Rosa's jaw dropped when she saw the well-dressed pilot. Trigger calmly headed to sit with her, with a confident smile on his face.

"Whoever owns the jet parked next to the restaurant, you left your lights on." A waiter said.

Rosa broke out laughing as Trigger headed to the front door, almost tripping in the process. She walked out after him, wanting to see how he would handle the situation.

"Trigger, how could you forget to turn your lights off?" She asked.

"Happens to everyone." Trigger happily replied as he approached the fighter. Grabbing a small ladder from the underside of the nose, he climbed into the cockpit and proceeded to turn the lights off. Before he closed the cockpit, an idea came to his head.

"Rosa, over here please." He said.

She headed to Trigger and climbed upped the ladder and into the jet. She looked inside and saw the cockpit, with all the instruments.

"After dinner, I'm taking you for a ride in her." Trigger said, as he jumped from the jet.

"There's only one seat." Rosa said.

"You'll sit on me." Trigger nonchalantly said.

Rosa blushed in response. She fantasized about getting close to Trigger, and now it was happening.

"This wine is very good. You know where this stuff came from?" Trigger asked, as he sipped a little.

"We make it here in Erusea. Anything else you want to taste?" Rosa asked.

"I say we taste each other." Trigger bluntly said. Rosa chocked on her drink and blushed. The rest of the date went well, the two of them talking about anything that floated their boats, knowing each other better.

"That dress looks nice on you." Trigger complimented.

"Thanks. Would you fancy a dance?" she asked.

Trigger grinned and stood up. Extending his arm, Rosa accepted the offer and was pulled into Trigger's embrace.

Ushered to an empty part of the building, Trigger led them thru some dancing. Rosa rested her head on his shoulder and followed his movements.

"Thanks, Trigger. Thanks for showing me a good time." She said, lifting her head to look into his blue eyes. His eyes looked back into her green eyes, lost in her gaze.

Trigger leaned down and kissed her, and she kissed him back.

"You still want to take that flight?" Trigger asked.

"Oh god, yes." She said, feeling weak at the knees.

Outside, Trigger opened the cockpit and sat inside. Cossette climbed up the ladder and sat on him. Despite the cramped room, Trigger closed the canopy and started up the engines. He calmly rolled the plane around the restaurant and towards the highway. With the streets clear, he taxied onto the street and pushed the accelerator forward. Rosa was pushed against Trigger as they lifted from the streets and into the skies.

"Enjoying the view?" Trigger asked.

"It's beautiful." She said, seeing the stars.

The two sat in silence, as Rosa admired the view. She couldn't have imagine a view of this magnitude.

"Is this what you experience all the time, Trigger?" She asked, her voice soft and silky.

"More or less. I find it relaxing." The ace replied. Taking his left hand off the throttle, he grabbed her hand and held it tight.

"Not to sound cliché, I find it romantic, just me and you up here. We should do this more often."

Trigger laughed in response. He didn't know if he would be allowed to take her up on another date in the skies. He wasn't sure if he would be able to escape the effects of this stunt.

"I'll figure something out, Rosa. But you are right. This is nice. I'll see if I can get some time off."

"You better. If not, I'll pull some strings." Rosa said.

Increasing the throttle, Trigger pushed the plane into several acrobatics as Rosa laughed with joy.

"This is really fun. What else can you do?" She asked, and was sure Trigger had something else in mind.

And she was proven right as Trigger pulled the nose up and over, a full 360 degrees. Rosa's stomach went up and down in multiple butterflies, and found the experience enthralling. The plane leveled out, and she looked down and saw the lights of the city beneath them. Content for the moment, she rested against Trigger and listened to the combination of his heartbeat and the engines.

"Trigger, I want to stay with you. Just a while longer." Rosa said, prompting an idea from Trigger.

"Rosa, I've heard that the royal family has a personal fighter squadron. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's called Rose squadron. Why do you ask?" she asked.

"If you want me to stay with you, you could have me transferred to the squadron. Just something to think about." Trigger said.

Experiencing another tight turn, Rosa watched as Trigger's hands manipulated the controls with ease. She wished his hands were touching her wherever he wanted.

"Touch me, Trigger. Please." She muttered to herself.

"We got company." Trigger said. Looking around, she saw several aircraft flying parallel to their position.

"Trigger, who are they?" she asked.

"Hey, Trigger. How are you doing?" Count asked, moving next to Trigger.

"Doing good, Count. Any activity up here?" Trigger asked.

"We saw a fighter jet take off from the city and perform several stunts. We went up to investigate." Count said.

"We?" Trigger asked.

"So Trigger, how's your date going?" Long Caster asked.

Trigger burst out laughing at the situation. He and Cossette were dressed for a nice dinner, were currently flying a state of the art fighter jet, and Trigger's squadron decided to drop in for a rain check.

"Our date is going fine, sir." Cossette said.

"Sorry. We didn't mean to disturb." Long Caster started when Cossette continued.

"Don't worry. It's like I have my own squadron of bodyguards." She teased.

"That's one way of looking at it. What time is it?" Trigger asked.

"Hey dumbass, it's 2300 hours. You and her highness should probably hit the hay. We'll take CAP duty from here." Avril said, approaching the group from behind in her Gripen.

"Trigger, can I talk to the scrap queen on a private line?" Cossette asked.

"You're on the air." Trigger said, after setting up the line.

"Scrap queen, I'd appreciate it if you'd hand me my notebook back." Rosa said.

"You mean the notebook that has love poems, scribbles about three strikes, and a heart with three strikes pierced thru it?" Avril asked.

"Yes. I'd appreciate it if it remains between the two of us." Cossette demanded.

"My lips are sealed. Of course, I have an idea where your lips will be-" Avril started when Cossette cut the comms.

Waggling his wings in a salute, he headed to the air base and proceeded to land his plane. Looking at the cockpit, he did a double take upon seeing how little fuel was left.

"Thank god. We're almost out of fuel." Trigger said, pointing to the fuel gauge.

Leaving the cockpit, he helped Rosa out of the plane and had to hold her as she almost fell. Shrugging his shoulders, Trigger lifted Rosa in his arms and carried her bridal style into the barracks.

"The squadron isn't going to let this down, you know." Trigger warned.

"Let them talk." Rosa responded.


End file.
